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Published: December 31st 2005
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Alex and I were keenly waiting to see what basketball was going to be like in Tambacounda. We first found a court outside of a primary school, which we thought would be the best thing around. Unfortunately, only little kids would come to play. One day when we were walking up to the court, a guy on a scooter saw our basketball, and told us that we should play at the stadium. We thought that the stadium must be the place that we were looking for, where all the older guys went to play. We went there and started playing around. There were a few good guys there, and as we played, more guys kept showing up. We thought we had found a great spot. Unfortunately, these guys were waiting for their practice to start, so once it really started to get going, they had to start their practice. We kept doing this for awhile, hoping guys would start showing up earlier, but they were all in school and couldn't come out. Finally we asked one of the guys if there was another place to play, and he told us to go to the military compound. Unfortunately this was on the far side of town, which was a half an hour walk, and when we got there, we weren't sure if they were going to let us in. The language barrier usually causes a problem when you're trying to explain something like this. We had heard some bad things about the gendarmerie, about them being corrupt and asking for money and stuff. It seemed like a perfect opportunity for them to get us to pay them to play. After stumbling over my french for awhile, the officer asked if I spoke english, which he proceeded to speak perfectly. Then he allowed us to enter, even without personal identification. We just got there before dark, but there was a full game of five-on-five going on. Although the calibre wasn't as good as baobab, Alex and I were really excited to see it. Unfortunately the next time we went, we didn't get the same nice guard and the guy wouldn't let us in without paying. We didn't have any money on us, so we had to leave and go home. Every other time we went, it worked out well. We got to know the guys there well, and they were all really welcoming to us. We played a couple of really great games, Alex and I together, but unfortunately, since the first time we played together, we destroyed everyone, they separated us after that. They thought I would be as good alone as I was when I played with Alex, which obviously was not the case. Fortunately for me, Alex was outstanding by himself, so we didn't get kicked off the court.
Alex and I were out walking around doing our daily errands, when we were walking past a building on our street where there were tons of high school kids. They were rioting in front of a building, ripping the fence down and lighting fires and stuff. (We found out later that they were 'on strike' because they wanted better schools, more teachers, etc) Alex and I were amazed to see this, and were standing there watching, when the kids started running straight toward us, yelling 'police, police' when the police in riot gear showed up. The military was driving in pick up trucks, with 20 guys in the back wearing riot gear. About four trucks pulled up. We found it funny that the cops were more interested in picking up the fence than chasing the kids. Even funnier was when the kids were running past us in a huge herd (around 200 teenagers), all we heard was 'Hello Alex' from the crowd. One of the girls who had played basketball with us was in the crowd.
Other weird things I've seen in Tamba....
A goat strapped to the back of a bicycle.
Men holding hands. The women don't do it, only men. (Mustafa held Alex's hand when we first got to Dakar)
Adult male, in a suit, riding on a moped to work
Two grown men riding together on a moped
Two teenage guys riding on the same bike (one guy on the crossbar)
In the internet cafes, there are always tons of kids playing computer games. The are always playing Half Life or Road Rash, the only two computer games I've ever been addicted to. I feel like jumping in and playing, but I'm worried it's a lose-lose situation. There's not much pride in beating an eight year old, but there's less pride in being beaten by one....
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Margo
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Holding court
Wish I could see one of your games. It must be tough for you without Alex these days. How are Laura's courtside skills? xou m